Occupant propelled merry-go-round



June 1951 .1. s. PATTEN OCCUPANT PROPELLED MERRY-GO-ROUND 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 19, 1948 James 5'. Pa 552 2 Ju 1951 J. 5. PATTEN 5 OCCUPANT PROPELLED MERRY-GO-ROUND Filed May 19, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. James 5. Pafien Paten ted June 12 i951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE e r 2,556,552 I I OCCUPANT PROPELLED MERRY-GO-ROUND James Stewart Patten, Walnut Grove, Calif. Application May 19, 1948, Serial No. 28,042

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a merry-gc-round of extremely simple construction for use by either two or four occupants which is actuated by one or more 'of said occupants to cause the merry-goround to revolve relatively to its supporting strucwife to thereby afford amusement, especially for children.

Another object of the invention is to provide a merry-go-round of extremely simple construction and provided with an extremely simple means whereby one or more of the riders can manually actuate the merry-go-r'ound to cause rotation thereof; I I

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a me'rry-go-round having an adjustable supporting structure capable of being readily adjusted for tilting the supporting structure with respect to a supporting surface so that the rotat ing, superstructure of the merry-go-round will describe an undulating path when revolved.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter become more fully apparent from the following description of the drawings, illustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

Figure l is a side elevational view of one embodiment of the merry-go-round;

Figure 2 is a top plan view thereof;

.Figure 3 is a vertical sectional View taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 3-3 of Figure 2; V Figure 4 is a sectional view taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 44v of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a top plan view of a slightly modified form of the invention, and

Figure 6 is a side elevational view of the form of Figure 5.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, and first with reference to Figures 1 to 4, the novel merry-go-round as disclosed therein and which is designated generally 1 includes a supporting structure, designated generally 8 having a central sleeve or tubular housing 9 to which is secured corresponding ends of four supporting legs, each designated generally it]. Each of the supporting legs I0 includes an upper tubular section H which is welded or otherwise secured, as seen at I2 to the tubular housing 9 and so as to project outwardly and downwardly therefrom.

Each of the legs [0 also includes a lower section l3 which may likewise be tubular and which telescopes into its section l2 and which is retained in any one of a plurality of adjusted positions with respect thereto by means of two setscrews [4 which engage threaded bosses l5 of its leg section II. Each leg section 13 is preferably provided at its lower end with a rubber pad or foot member I6 which is adapted to engage the supporting surface [1, as seen in Figure 1, and which will prevent the legs [0 from slipping relatively thereto.

The tubular housing 9 is provided with internally threaded ends, the upper internally threaded end of which is adapted to receive a thrust bearing I8 and the lower internally threaded end of which is adapted to receive a thrust bearing I9. The lower end of the housing! is alsoexternally threaded to detachably receive a ca p.f2ll. Each thrust bearing I8 and I9 includes an outer bearing element 2| which threadedly engagesan internally threaded end of thehousing Hj andan. inner bearing element 22 that is supported for free rotation with respect to its bearing jelement 2| by a plurality of ball bearings 23 which are interposed therebetween. A shaft 24 is journale'd in thrust bearings I8 and I9 and extends up wardly therefrom. An annular disk 25 is welded or otherwise secured as seen at 26 around-the upper end of the housing 9 and has a V-sh'aped groove 21 extending around its periphery to form a fixed pulley-like element.

The upper end of the shaft 24 is fixedly secured to the intermediate portion of an elongated tu bular bar, designated generally 30, corresponding ends of which form supporting arms each of which is adapted to support a seat 3| at the outer end thereof. As best seen in Figure 4,.the seats 3| are provided on their under sides each with a tubular base 32 for slidably engaging anerid of the bar 30 and each tubular base 32 is provided with one or a plurality of setscrews 33 by means of which the seat can be adjustably clamped to the supporting bar 30 at any desired distance from an end thereof. I I I Y One arm or end portion 34 of the supporting bar 3|] has the shaft portion of a crank 35 extending perpendicularly therethrough and journaled therein. The crank 35 is retained against reciprocating motion with respect to the arm 34 by adjustable retaining collars 36 and 31 which are disposed above and below the arm 34, respectively. The lower retaining collar 31 constitutes an integral hub portion of a belt pulley 38 which is thereby fixed to an end of the shaft of the crank 35, below the arm 34. The opposite, offset upwardly extending end of the crank 35 is provided with a handle 39 which is rotatably attached thereon. As clearly illustrated in Figure 2. the crank 35 is disposed in sufiiciently close proximity to the seat 3| of the arm 34 so that the occupant of said seat can readily grasp the handle 39 for revolving the crank 35. An endless belt 49 is trained over the pulley 38 and member 25.

The other arm 4| of the bar 30 is provided with a conventional handle 42 disposed inwardly of and adjacent the other seat 3| and adapted to be grasped by the occupant of last mentioned seat.

From the foregoing it will be readily apparent that one, two or more of the legs l may be extended to a greater extent than other of the legs for positioning the support 8 at an incline to the supporting surface IT, as illustrated in Figure 1. Assuming that each of the seats 3| is occupied by a rider facing inwardly of the bar 30, the rider disposed adjacent the crank 35 will engage the handle 39 to revolve said crank and the pulley 38. Due to the frictional engagement of the belt 40 with the member 25, this will cause a pull to be exerted on the belt from the member 25 at a point on its periphery at a right angle to the bar 30. For example, if crank 35 is turned clockwise (Figure 2) the pull will be from below the bar 39 so that bar 30 will be revolved counterclockwise.

This will cause the merry-go-round bar 30 to revolve on the support 8 and as the support is set at an incline, each end of the bar 30 will olescribe'an undulating or up and down movement as it revolves. It will thus be readily apparent that a manually propelled toy merry-go-round of extremely simple construction has been provided which may be readily operated by one of the occupants thereof.

Figures and 6 illustrate a slightly modified form of the merry-go-round, designated generally 43. The merrygo-round 43 has a supporting structure 44 corresponding to the supporting structure 8. In lieu of the single supporting bar 30, the merry-go-round 43 is provided with two supporting bars 45 and 46 which are secured together. in crossed relationship to the upper end of a central shaft, not shown, corresponding to the shaft-J4. In lieu of the single element 25, the merry go-round 43 is provided with a similar element 4'1 having two belt grooves and which is mounted in the same manner as the element 25 and for the same purpose. A seat 48, corresponding to the seats 3| is secured to each end of each of the supporting bars 45 and 46 and each end of the supporting bar 45 is provided with a crank 49 and a pulley 59, corresponding to the crank 35 and pulley 38 and Similarly located with respect, to the seats 48 of said cross arm 45. The supporting bar or cross arm 46 adjacent each end thereof is provided with a handle 5|, corresponding to the handle 42. A belt 52 is trained over the upper groove of the element 41 and over one of the pulleys 50 and an endless belt 53 is trained over the other pulley 59 and the lower groove of the element 41.

Accordingly it will be readily apparent that the merry-go-round 43 is manually operated by two of the four riders thereof who are supported by the seats 48 of the supporting bar 45 and who manually operate the cranks 49 while the other two riders engage the handles 5| and ride the seats 48 of the supporting bar 46. The supporting structure 44 is also adapted to be disposed at an incline as seen in Figure 6, so that the ends of the bars 45 and 45 will move upwardly and downwardly as they are revolved.

Various other modifications and changes are likewise contemplated and may obviously be resorted to, without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claim.

I claim as my invention.

An occupant propelled merry-go-round comprising a supporting structure including a central bearing, four supporting legs secured to and depending from said bearing in divergingrelationship to one another, said legs being equally spaced around the bearing, a shaft journaled in said bearing and rising therefrom, a supporting bar secured intermediate of its ends to the up er end of said shaft and supported thereby above said supporting structure, a seat secured to each end of the supporting bar, a crank journaled in said supporting bar adjacent one of said seats, a pulley fixed to said crank, a pulley-like element fixed to the central bearing and disposed around the shaft, and an endless belt trained over saidpulley and pulley-,like element for causing the shaft and supporting bar to be revolved relatively to the supporting structure when the, crank is rotated,

JAMES STEWART PATTEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Miller Apr. 11, 1950. 

